Your photos may carry your location
Photos can include where and when they were taken. Most social apps strip it. Email, chat files and websites often don’t.
A photo from your phone usually contains EXIF data: the date, the phone model and, if location is on, the GPS coordinates. Post it on a big social network and the location is normally removed. Send it as a file by email, upload it to your own website, or attach it to a listing, and it often stays.
That’s how a picture of a new car outside your house can give away your address.
- On iPhone, tap Options when sharing and turn off Location. On Android, the share sheet or camera settings have a similar switch.
- Turn off location in the camera app if you don’t need it.
- Websites: strip metadata from uploaded images on the server. Most image libraries do it in one line.
- Check a file before sending: on a computer, its properties or info window shows what’s inside.
Small detail, real consequence, especially for people with stalkers or public jobs.